Breakthrough Indentation Yield Strength Test by Nanovea

Irvine, CA | Posted on July 14th, 2011

Traditionally yield strength has been tested by using a tensile testing machine, a large instrument requiring enormous strength to pull apart metal, plastic and others. The yield strength (also known as yield point) of a material in engineering (and or materials science) is the point of stress that a material starts to deform plastically. Before reaching the yield point a material will deform elastically but returns to its original shape when stress is removed. A crucial material property for nano and micro related materials found in advancing industries such as biomedical, microelectronics, energy and many others. Until now the most reliable way took large machine effort, sample preperation, and or was impossible to perform on small samples and localized areas.

By using Nanovea's Mechanical Tester in indentation mode, using a cylindrical flat tip, yield strength data can be easily obtained. For years now, the indentation test has been used for hardness and elastic modulus measurements. There has traditionally been an issue with linking macro tensile properties to what was measured during an indentation test. Many studies measuring with spherical tips have allowed stress-strain curves but were never able to give reliable tensile yield strength data that corresponded directly to macro tensile data. Nanovea's patent pending method, using a cylindrical flat tip, gives yield strength directly comparable to what is measured by traditional means. It is believed that the load per surface area at which the cylindrical flat tip penetrates, at increased speed, is directly linked to the load versus surface area at which the material starts flowing in a tensile mode test. Therefore, reliable yield strength results on an endless list of materials, small or large has never before been as obtainable until now.

"This is just another addition, on a long and growing list, of what can be tested with our Mechanical Tester," said Pierre Leroux, Nanovea's CEO. While this specific test is a breakthrough of great importance, it is ultimately just another reason why the Nanovea Mechanical Tester has the widest testing capability of any mechanical testing system.